The Emulator samplers

 

Founded in 1972 in California, E-Mu Systems is a division of Emu-Ensoniq. E-Mu Systems develops digital audio and music products based on digital sampling technology for professional musicians, sound designers, composers and audio engineers worldwide. In July 1998, E-Mu Systems combined operations with Ensoniq of Malvern, Pennsylvania to become Emu-Ensoniq, a wholly owned subsidiary of Creative Technology, Ltd. Their only currently supported sampler is the Emulator X software.

 

With the notable exception of the £25,000 Fairlight CMI (below left), E-mu Systems’ Emulator series were the most desirable samplers of the 1980s until 1988, when Akai Professional released their ground-breaking, almost affordable S1000 sampler (below right). Click here to visit my S1000 page.

 

 

 

The Emulator I -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The first Emulator went into production in 1981. It was the first dedicated sampler ever (the Fairlight CMI was also a synthesiser/sequencer). It had no VCA or envelope generator to shape the sampled sounds. The Emulator was available in 4 or 8 voice configurations and a revised version (mark II, 1982) added VCAs. The filter only had a frequency cut-off control and simple looping of sampled sounds was possible. The Emulator featured a 5.25” disk drive. MIDI had not yet been invented. The Emulator remained in production until 1983. Famous users included David Bowie, Depeche Mode, Herbie Hancock, Genesis, New Order, OMD, Jean-Michel Jarre, Kitaro, Vangelis, Yes, Daryl Dragon and Stevie Wonder who bought the very first one. The first Emulator had a non touch sensitive 4-octave keyboard and no display whatsoever.

 

Original US price: Mark 1 $9995 (8 Voice), Mark 2 $7995 (8 Voice).

 

Sound quality & memory: 27.7 kHz, 8 bits, 128kb sample memory.

 

 

 

More Emulator I photos from an Ebay listing:

 

 

The JLCooper VCA/VCF add-on

 

 

The original Emulator I brochure:

 

 

 

The Emulator II ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The second incarnation of the Emulator, the Emulator II, was released in 1984. It had a 5-octave touch sensitive keyboard and featured basic MIDI functionality, a built-in sequencer, 8-voice polyphony, SMPTE for tape synchronisation and a small LCD display. In 1985, E-mu launched the Emulator II+, which had more sample memory and on later models, a dual disk drive. The Emulator II HD had a built-in hard disk. The Emulator II was used or featured on recordings by Depeche Mode, ABC, Genesis, Paul McCartney, Tangerine Dream, New Order, Level 42, Brian Wilson, Simple Minds, Enya, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Stevie Nicks, Yes, filmaker/composer John Carpenter, OMD, the Pet Shop Boys, Stevie Wonder, Cutting Crew (“Broadcast”), Spandau Ballet (“Through the Barricades”), Tears for Fears, Ultravox, Midge Ure and many others. The Shakuhachi sound on Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” is produced by an (uncredited) Emulator II.

 

Original US retail price: EII $7995, EII+ $9995.

 

Sound quality & memory:

Emulator II:       27.7 kHz, 8 bits played at 14 bits, 512kb sample memory.

Emulator II+:     27.7 kHz, 8 bits played at 14 bits, 1Mb sample memory.

Emulator II HD: 27.7 kHz, 8 bits played at 14 bits, 1Mb sample memory, 20 Mb hard disk.

 

 

More photos from various Ebay listings:

 

 

 

 

The Emulator III ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The Emulator III, released in 1987, featured a standard 3.25” floppy disk drive, a 16-channel sequencer, a faster processor, an internal 40 Mb hard disk, 16-voice polyphony and a SCSI interface to allow the connection of an external hard disk or CD-ROM player. The filters were still analogue filters, hence the sampler’s ‘warm’ sound. The keyboard had aftertouch too. Other versions of the Emulator III included the EIII rack, the EIIIXP and EIIIXS. These 3 models are rackmountable, i.e. keyboardless modules. Famous users include Depeche Mode, Genesis and many more. The Emulator III could sample at what became known as “CD Quality”, i.e. 16 bit, 44.1 kHz.

 

Original US retail price: EIII 4MB Rack $12,695, EIII 8MB Rack $15,195.

 

Sound quality & memory: 33 or 44.1 kHz, 16 bits, 4 Mb or 8Mb sample memory depending on model.

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

The rare EIII rack and the more common EIIIXP:

 

                                              

 

 

The Emulator IV ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The Emulator IV keyboard (1996), also known as the E4K, was released after its rackmountable counterparts. There were several rack versions of the EIV (EIV, E6400, E64, E4X and E4X Turbo) and two versions of the E4K: the 64 and 128-voice models. Both come with 4Mb sample RAM as standard but can be expanded to 128Mb. An internal 270Mb hard disc is included, 150Mb of which were pre-loaded with fresh new sounds, and the keyboard features digital inputs and SCSI. The Emulator IV can write to and read from hard discs of up to 18Gb. The resonant filters, regrettably, are digital but the EIV has a very large display, a built-in 48-track sequencer and it can read MIDI Files straight off DOS floppies. Sequences can even be saved onto the hard disk and the sequencer can control external MIDI devices. The keyboard has 76 keys and an old-style PC-AT ASCII keyboard (5-pin DIN) can be connected to the E4, which makes front panel operations easier.

 

Original UK price: £3,499 (64-voice), £4,250 (128-voice).

 

Sound quality: 22.05, 24, 44.1 or 48 kHz, 16 bits, 4Mb to 128Mb sample memory.

 

 

Here are a few photos of my own E4K (EOS v3.00b, 128Mb RAM, 64 voices, 270Mb internal HD, 1Gb external SCSI HD, ASCII keyboard):

 

 

The four real-time controllers can be assigned to a wide range of destinations such as filter cut-off frequency, resonance, etc.

 

 

The assignable keys allow the user to jump to any page. The photo also shows the dedicated sequencer transport buttons.

 

 

The large display and function buttons. Notice the red velvet strip and the word “Emulator” in gold lettering above the keys. Nice touch!

 

 

More buttons and transport controls.

 

 

The rotary encoder and more buttons.

 

 

Oh, it’s not a sampler, but a “Sampling Synthesis Controller”. Political correctness?

 

 

Another nice touch: the assignable “thumby” button, essentially a MIDI controller.

 

 

The posh Emulator 4 Keyboard (E4K) logo.

 

 

The E4K was also released under the name ‘E-Synth’. This model could only be expanded to 64Mb RAM, but had the full functionality of the EIV series of samplers and came with 400Mb of new sounds on two CD-ROMs.

 

 

 

 

 

The improved “Ultra” incarnations of the EIV series samplers (1999):

 

 

 

E4XT Ultra key features

  • 128 voice polyphony
  • 32-bit internal ultra-fast RISC processor
  • 64Mb of RAM (expandable to 128 MB)
  • 3.2Gb hard drive (can read hard drives up to 18Gb)
  • Dual 24-bit effects processors (expandable to 32-bit, 32 channel R-chip processor)
  • Dual MIDI In/Out/ Thru
  • DMS synthesis with extensive Patch Cord routing, 21 different 6-pole filter types
  • 32-voice layering & and 128-voice velocity switch/fade capabilities)
  • Complete 9 CD-ROM sound library included with over 2GB of sounds
  • Word Clock I/O
  • 8 balanced outputs (expandable to 16)

 

 

The rear panel:

 

 

The Emulator 4 Ultra comes in three configurations, the E4XT Ultra, E-Synth Ultra, and E6400 Ultra. The E6400 and E-Synth can be completely upgraded to the E4XT Ultra (the top of the line model). All three models are professional, three space, rack-mounted sampling/synthesizers. The E4XT Ultra features 128-voice polyphony, 64MB of RAM (expandable to 128MB), a 3.2 GB Hard drive, 20-bit DACs with 128x over-sampling, Word Clock I/O, and a new 32-bit RISC processor which makes operations like SCSI, MIDI timing, and DSP lightning fast.

E4 Ultra ships with version 4.0 of the Emulator Operating System (EOS), which introduces some very exciting new features to the Emulator 4 line of samplers, including "Beat-Munging" and "EOS Link". Beat-Munging is a new real-time DSP tool that analyzes drum loops and phrases to automatically determine the BPM and perfectly loops the sample. EOS Link is a Mac or PC software application that allows you to control the Emulator from your computer desktop. The E4XT Ultra, E-Synth Ultra, and E6400 Ultra retailed for US$3595, US$2895, and US$2295 respectively in 1999.

Ultra advanced hardware

The E4 Ultra utilizes a new 32-bit RISC processor, giving ultra-fast MIDI response time, SCSI, DSP operations and sampling. All E4 Ultra's are upgradeable to 128-voice polyphony (standard on the E4XT Ultra) and can address up to 128MB of RAM (E4XT Ultra ships with 64 MB standard while the E6400 and E-Synth Ultra ship with 16MB standard). "With this combination of polyphony, memory capacity and blazing processor speed, you can trust the E4 Ultra to deliver your most intense layered sounds and sequences with dead-on timing and pristine fidelity," said Sean Wilhelmsen, E-MU SYSTEMS senior product manager.

Ultra featured software

The E4 Ultra ships with EOS version 4.0 which offers a host of breakthrough features. E-MU's Beat-Munging technology is one of these new features. BeatMunging allows you to change your loop's time (i.e. from 4/4 to 7/8), tempo, swing, move, and switch beats within your loop, all in real-time. It also gives you unprecedented rhythmic control over your audio, radically changing the way you create and manipulate loops and grooves.

EOS 4.0 also comes with EOS Link, a Mac or PC software application that allows you to control the Emulator from your computer desktop. Additional new features include AKAI S-3000 sound support via SCSI and WAV and AIFF sound support via floppy.

Ultra versatile upgrades

E-MU SYSTEMS offers versatile new hardware upgrades for the E4 Ultra. These upgrades include the 16 output/8 input ADAT card and the 32MB Flash memory board. The 16 output/ 8 input ADAT allows you to have 16 outputs-all in the digital domain-for easy digital studio integration, as well as 8 digital inputs for sampling from ADAT or other ADAT output devices.

The new 32MB Flash memory board allows you rapid access to onboard sounds as well as the revolutionary, 32-bit, 32-channel, R-chip FX. The FX card provides advanced FX and cutting-edge DSP operations and will be available Q2 1999. "By providing Emulator 4 users with continued software upgrades and new exciting hardware enhancements, we believe purchasing an E-MU sampler is an investment. This type of support and commitment make the Emulator 4 line of samplers unique in their ability to realize any sound imaginable," says Bryan Lanser, director of marketing for E-MU SYSTEMS.

 

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